The Saratogian (Saratoga, NY)

AN­NUAL FUNDRAISER

2020 Fes­ti­val of Trees to take place next month

- By Lau­ren Hal­li­gan lhal­li­gan@dig­i­tal­first­media. com re­porter Celebrations · Catholic Church · Christianity · Religion · Saratoga Springs, NY · Saratoga, NY · New York · Washington · Saratoga Springs · Broadway · Albany · Connell, WA

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » Catholic Char­i­ties of Saratoga, War­ren and Wash­ing­ton coun­ties in­vites the local com­mu­nity to un­wrap the magic of the holiday season at their 25th an­nual Fes­ti­val of Trees fundraiser, a kick­off to the holiday season.

With COVID-19 pre­cau­tions in place, the Fes­ti­val will once again show­case beau­ti­fully dec­o­rated trees, wreaths, and other holiday and gift items for purchase.

The 2020Fes­ti­val of Trees is sched­uled for the first week of De­cem­ber at the Saratoga Springs City Cen­ter, lo­cated at 522 Broad­way in down­town Saratoga Springs. The event’s hours are 5 to 7 p.m. on Wed­nes­day, Dec. 2, 4 to 9 p.m. on Thurs­day, Dec. 3, 2 to 6 p.m. on Fri­day, Dec. 4, noon to 6 p.m. on Satur­day, Dec. 5 and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sun­day, Dec. 6.

A vir­tual com­po­nent has been added to the fes­ti­val this year too. The com­mu­nity will also be able to view and purchase trees online.

Though the fes­ti­val will go on with­out tra­di­tional group ac­tiv­i­ties such as Break­fast with Santa, in­stead var­i­ous “Santa Ex­pe­ri­ences” are avail­able for in­ter­ested fam­i­lies. Chil­dren can re­ceive a let­ter or video call from Santa or par­ents can purchase a DIY Christ­mas Cookie Kit to dec­o­rate at home.

Fes­ti­val pro­ceeds will ben­e­fit the pro­grams of Catholic Char­i­ties of Saratoga, War­ren and Wash­ing­ton coun­ties, an agency of Catholic Char­i­ties of the Dio­cese of Al­bany.

This or­ga­ni­za­tion has

has, for 25 years, gen­er­ously sup­ported th­ese ef­forts. The Fes­ti­val is hop­ing that by pro­vid­ing this cur­tailed cel­e­bra­tion of the 2020Hol­i­day Season, the tra­di­tion of sup­port and gen­eros­ity will con­tinue.”

The 25th an­niver­sary Fes­ti­val of Trees chair­per­son Ear­line John­son added, “In con­tin­u­ing the won­der­ful tra­di­tion of the Fes­ti­val as a pre­mier Holiday ac­tiv­ity, the Saratoga Springs City Cen­ter will once again be filled with beau­ti­fully dec­o­rated trees, wreaths and other dec­o­ra­tions that can be viewed through the Cen­ter’swin­dows onBroad­way, and in­side on a lim­ited, so­cially dis­tanced ba­sis.

All of the items will be avail­able for purchase in per­son and, new this year, trees will also be avail­able online.”

Catholic Char­i­ties Board Chair, Bruce O’Con­nell said in the re­lease, “This year, with the safety of the pub­lic in mind, the 25th an­niver­sary of the Saratoga Fes­ti­val of Trees will look a lit­tle dif­fer­ent in that the large group Fes­ti­val ac­tiv­i­tieswill be cur­tailed. There­fore, the tra­di­tional Break­fast with Santa, the Fes­ti­val Gala on open­ing night, and other large group ac­tiv­i­ties within the an­nual Fes­ti­val are not be­ing sched­uled.”

Vin­cent Colonno, CEO of Catholic Char­i­ties of the Dio­cese of Al­bany added, “The Fes­ti­val of Trees is an in­cred­i­bly im­por­tant event this year. It not only pro­vides vi­tal sup­port to the peo­ple of Saratoga, War­ren and Wash­ing­ton coun­ties, but it also pro­vides a safe way for fam­i­lies to cel­e­brate the Christ­mas and holiday season. I am grate­ful to the Fes­ti­val Com­mit­tee mem­bers and staff who’ve worked hard to make this event come to­gether.”

All at­ten­dees will be asked to wear a mask and so­cially dis­tance, with lim­ited num­bers safely al­lowed in the Tree Dis­play Roomat one time. Tickets are $8 per per­son, $5 for Se­niors, $3 for ages 10 to 18 and free for any­one 10 or younger when ac­com­pa­nied by an adult.

Fur­ther de­tails about this year’s fes­ti­val are avail­able by call­ing 518- 587- 5000 or vis­it­ing https://give.classy.org/fes­ti­val­trees.

?? LAU­REN HAL­LI­GAN - ME­DI­ANEWS GROUP FILE PHOTO ?? An event­goer shops in the Holiday Shoppe at the 24th an­nual Saratoga Fes­ti­val of Trees in 2019.
LAU­REN HAL­LI­GAN - ME­DI­ANEWS GROUP FILE PHOTO An event­goer shops in the Holiday Shoppe at the 24th an­nual Saratoga Fes­ti­val of Trees in 2019.
?? LAU­REN HAL­LI­GAN - ME­DI­ANEWS GROUP FILE PHOTO ?? A tree is dec­o­rated with stuffed an­i­mals at the 24th an­nual Saratoga Fes­ti­val of Trees in 2019.
LAU­REN HAL­LI­GAN - ME­DI­ANEWS GROUP FILE PHOTO A tree is dec­o­rated with stuffed an­i­mals at the 24th an­nual Saratoga Fes­ti­val of Trees in 2019.
?? LAU­REN HAL­LI­GAN - ME­DI­ANEWS GROUP FILE PHOTO ?? An at­tendee ad­mires table­top dec­o­ra­tions at the 2019 Saratoga Fes­ti­val of Trees at the Saratoga Springs City Cen­ter.
LAU­REN HAL­LI­GAN - ME­DI­ANEWS GROUP FILE PHOTO An at­tendee ad­mires table­top dec­o­ra­tions at the 2019 Saratoga Fes­ti­val of Trees at the Saratoga Springs City Cen­ter.
?? LAU­REN HAL­LI­GAN - ME­DI­ANEWS GROUP FILE PHOTO ?? A dec­o­rated tree is dis­played at the 24th an­nual Saratoga Fes­ti­val of Trees in 2019.
LAU­REN HAL­LI­GAN - ME­DI­ANEWS GROUP FILE PHOTO A dec­o­rated tree is dis­played at the 24th an­nual Saratoga Fes­ti­val of Trees in 2019.
?? LAU­REN HAL­LI­GAN - ME­DI­ANEWS GROUP FILE PHOTO ?? A col­or­ful tree at the 2019Sarato­ga Fes­ti­val of Trees fea­tures old fash­ioned tin­sel and bub­ble lights.
LAU­REN HAL­LI­GAN - ME­DI­ANEWS GROUP FILE PHOTO A col­or­ful tree at the 2019Sarato­ga Fes­ti­val of Trees fea­tures old fash­ioned tin­sel and bub­ble lights.
?? LAU­REN HAL­LI­GAN - ME­DI­ANEWS GROUP FILE PHOTO ?? A bird dec­o­rated sits in a tree dis­played at the 2019 Saratoga Fes­ti­val of Trees.
LAU­REN HAL­LI­GAN - ME­DI­ANEWS GROUP FILE PHOTO A bird dec­o­rated sits in a tree dis­played at the 2019 Saratoga Fes­ti­val of Trees.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from USA